TOOL Deaths in the Workplace

2007 was the safest year since 1992 for employees in terms of work-related fatalities, a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. A preliminary count of 5,488 work-related deaths is the lowest since 2002, when there were 5,534 work-related deaths, according to the BLS. (The final report is due in April 2009.) The high was 6,632 in 1994. States such as Texas, Montana, Maine and Florida showed increases in 2007 over 2006, and California, Arizona, Georgia and New York, among others, boasted decreases. But employers anywhere may be able to use the facts and figures, which are broken down by other categories such as gender and industry sector, to reiterate safety points to their workforces.